Names at heart of free speech case

“When I posted that blog, I felt that I was doing it anonymously,” he said.

The Web site Battersby posted his comment to is a mortgage-industry watchdog called Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter, which posts news from other sources about the housing finance crisis. In the fall of 2008, the site posted a story about a New Hampshire company, The Mortgage Specialists Inc., that was being investigated by banking officials for a number of alleged violations, including forging signatures, destroying documents and unfair or deceptive business practices. The company was later fined by the banking department in connection with the charges.